Stressing on the importance of proper presentation of food while serving visitors, Uttarakhand Forest Minister Dinesh Aggarwal directed the department officers to expand the State level cook training programme for increasing the number of its beneficiaries.
Aggarwal said this at the conclusion of the sixth State level cook training programme organised by the Eco Tourism Wing of the State Forest Department on Thursday at IHM Dehradun.Speaking on the occasion Aggarwal said that the participants needed to regard the whole State as their home and make an earnest effort to beautify the surroundings so as to attract tourists as tourism is the backbone of the State’s economy. He hoped that the training course will take the trainees on a path of progress both in their personal lives as well as profession.
The Minister directed forest officials to expand the programme to increase the number of beneficiaries.The State principal chief conservator of forests SS Sharma said that he had personally observed improvement in the upkeep of Forest Rest Houses and the feedback from visitors where staff had been trained in the past was also very encouraging. Mukul Dimri from IHM presented the course report. Hari Singh from Haldwani Forest Division stood first in the exam, while the second and third places were bagged by Balwant Singh from Supi village and Prakash Singh Joshi from Dalar village respectively.
The three week training programme had a total of 47 participants including 29 forest staff from forest rest houses at Bijrani, Jhirna, Khinnanauli, Sultan, Mundiapani, Halduparao, lohanchaur, and Kalagarh Training Centre from Corbett Tiger Reserve and Rasiabarh, Barhani, Agastyamuni, Ransali, Chunakhan, Dhumakot, Danda, Tharali, Ramnagar and Satpuli.
In addition there were participants from rural tourism projects from Satri, Dalar, Supi, Risal, Gonap, Dhur, Supi, lamgada and other villages. For the first time there were three women participants in the training programme from lamgada and Satri Villages.The participants were given training in basic cooking skills, hygiene, sanitation,cooking methods and were taught to make dishes comprising of Indian, Continental, Uttarakhandi and other cuisines.
The participants were also given inputs on the significance of tourism and the vital role they play in promoting Uttarakhand as a tourist destination.According to the chief conservator of forests, Eco Tourism, Rajiv Bhartari, the Ecotourism wing has so far organized six one month/ three-week cook training programmes at IHM with a total of 160 participants and a couple of two-week housekeeping training programmes with 90 participants.